Mare Nostrum
by jolivira
Summary: A story about the journey of the seven as they physically and emotionally prepare themselves to face Gaea. And when the scars left are just too painful to deal with. Hazel is slowly drifting away as her power grows; Piper tries to look after Leo and his destructive behavior while still trying to face her own struggles; Percy and Annabeth are completely broken after Tartarus.
1. Chapter One: Preface

_Chapter one: Preface_

"Leo?" Her voice was always softer around him. She was also already expecting him no not listen the first time, this was how most conversations went.

"Hey, Leo?" His dark brown eyes quickly glanced in her direction and, even though there was no eye contact, Piper knew he was paying attention now. "Annabeth wants everyone at the deck."

"Oh okay." He said, hands fidgeting with mechanical pieces and eyes looking down. He wasn't very active today which was probably a bad sign considering his usual habits. Leo usually didn't stand still or straight like this. Piper turned her body around giving him one last quick glance and they headed outside together.

Hazel and Percy, who were both sitting cross legged side by side, looked in their direction as they reached the far end of the ship. Piper didn't know the roman demigods very well, it had only been two days since they had ran away from Camp Jupiter. She had heard so much about Percy though, he was like a living legend. A funny comparison to make, seeing how they dealt with actual living legends on a daily basis, but that's besides the point.

It was almost sunset, the lights were casting a beautiful glow on the bronze shields and on Festus' metal tail. Everything was calm, their last sight of the american coast had been about an hour ago.

It was decided now.

Piper and Leo sat down by Jason's side and waited as patiently as they could. Leo was avoiding every possible interaction by looking at the wood constructions, he was completely enthralled by the moving oars just like the first time he saw the ship working properly. Annabeth herself was the only one standing up, crunched on the carved sides of the boat with her elbows, she was looking meditatively at the horizon and at ocean waves.

Her lips let out a low sigh as she gently turned her head to look at her boyfriend, Percy. He had a smile targeted at her, this seemed to finally give Annabeth the strength to start her speech.

"I believe we have all been introduced to each other and all that stuff. I'm not here to give a pep talk on how we will 'defeat Gaea and save the world'." She was facing them now, a hand on her waist. Her eyes were coldly analyzing each one of them. Piper had grown used to this kind of behaviour after the first few months at Camp, but she understood perfectly when the big guy, Frank, looked away instantly intimidated.

"We need to acknowledge our role in the prophecy. All of us are here for a special reason and we have no way of going back now." Annabeth's tone suddenly turned around to empathetic and caring. Her face, along with her eyes, were so much darker now. She took another deep breath crossing her arms and continued. "We will face a literal ocean filled with monsters and ancient creatures... eventually Gaea herself. Not even the gods know what is waiting for us. Chiron and Lupa, along with two or three minor gods, are managing to give us a little help from outside but they can't do much. We are by ourselves and I can't promise everything will turn out well or even that our plans will work at all." She shot an unexpected sideways glance at Leo's direction. "Even though some of you are still kids, the fates have already chosen to ignore that, we can do practically nothing about it. Just- just ask if there is anything you need, alright? We will try to help you the best we can."

That last comment made it obvious to anyone that didn't already know: Annabeth was an experienced warrior and had won many battles. That also meant she had been through a lot of grief. This wasn't the first time kids were fighting the gods' battles, far from that, but something about this quest was getting her uncomfortable, maybe even downright scared. In the end, they were all overwhelmed by the situation.

Percy took her silence in and decided to continue the meeting:

"Earlier today we were discussing how the next weeks should go for us, sort of like a schedule. We thought of having three watches everyday, each with two demigods, so we can take turns resting and training." He had his back and arm muscles relaxed, only gesturing with his hand. He was looking at no one in particular. "Except for breakfast and diner, I think we can use those as meetings and a time to get everyone together."

Annabeth approached their small circle and sat down. She stretched one of her legs in front of her torso, the other one was bent, she used it to support her elbow. Her blonde hair looked stunning in the breeze, the sun rays were reflecting a beautiful gold shine from her locks. Although it was very tangled and messy because of the humidity, the tips had a beautiful orange glow. A single grey hair lock was of a ghostly grey color, matching Percy's. Many times Piper had paused to admire her friend's appearance, she always looked marvelous with such a unique unconcerned style. She watched Annabeth flip some flocks of hair out of her eyes when she spoke:

"Who will cook and who will be cleaning or not will be decided each day separately. There is no one in charge of the infirmary, so I think everyone should visit it to learn where everything is, just in case. Jason suggested we make some personalized kits to keep in each room. We can gather the items based on the most common injuries each one has because of our abilities. The first shift tonight will be me and Jason, later we'll wake Piper and Percy up. We can discuss the rest tomorrow, sounds good?"

The first one to speak was Hazel, the smallest and youngest out of them. Piper had no idea how old, her guess was thirteen. All that she knew about the girl was that she carried a giant sword and was a daughter of Pluto. Also, couldn't forget the magic horse.

Hazel lifted her face directly to Percy:

"Do you have any news on Nico?"

Percy nodded a simple and sad 'no', already expecting her following disappointment. Percy looked as upset as her with the answer. Piper didn't know who Nico was, probably another roman friend.

Jason got up to his feet with his signature warm smile, his hair and skin also had that orange sunset glow. "Well, feel free to make anything you guys wanna eat in the hall downstairs." He looked down to Leo and Piper specifically, then continued. "I guess we still have a little while until we start seeing some monsters around here. Rest well while we can, everyone." The demigods all felt comfortable around Jason and his caring nature, the shift on the situation was clear as day.

He reached his hand to Leo who was still playing with metal parts, infinite projects in mind. "Leo, let's go eat something. C'mon buddy." Leo nodded at the insistence and stood up, grateful for the opportunity to leave the setting even if that meant he would still have to be away from the command room and, therefore, Festus.

They headed together to the stairs: Leo quickly reached the second floor, Jason took a little longer. As soon as the rest of the demigods changed interest and looked away, Piper noticed his sad expression hiding beneath the surface: head down, tense shoulders and eyes filled with deep sorrow. Just like back in Camp, Jason had a bad habit of hiding any kind of negative emotions from his friends, always trying to sell the 'golden boy' image.

Annabeth quickly started a conversation with Frank and Percy about something or other. Piper leaned her head on her hand and continued to watch the sun, now only traces of pink and orange. She briefly saw the little girl, Hazel, looking at her with unmasked interest. Piper was honestly used to that. Not only her native american origin and the long braids, but also her piercings and clothing usually drew people's attention. If that wasn't the case, many people would still recognize her because of Tristan McLean's fame. Hazel seemed different though. She was seemed almost...confused?

Piper sent her a tiny smile before returning to look at the sunset. She wondered if with time she would be able to become friends with them all. Hopefully they would _have_ that time.

A sense of melancholy washed over her body as she listened to the waves and the gears in the ship's core. She hugged her legs a little more tightly.

For the first time, Piper missed Camp Half Blood and the safety of those borders.

/

It was a dream.

About five months ago Piper had been so… lost.

The three of them would sit at the same table everyday. Jason and Piper barely talked with each other, Leo was always passing out and falling asleep. they were all working hard to have the ship ready as soon as they could.

They liked to have lunch at 4pm, one of the only moments that the pavilion would be at least a little more silent. That day had been no different.

Piper had had an especially terrifying nightmare. The folks at cabin 10 were very sympathetic, two little girls climbed on her bed and they talked for a few minutes. One of them, Clara, had been raised here at Camp and was great at comforting others, even though she was still only seven years old. Demigods had to learn and act fast. Too fast.

They always had nightmares, that was a constant. But that day she knew, Piper desperately needed to talk to her boyfriend. They had been dragging this out for too long, she couldn't handle it. Automatically, her hands grabbed the keychain in her back pockets hands to fidget and try to relieve some of the nervousness. Jason didn't miss it, as usual:

"What you got there, Pipes?" His tone wasn't exactly accusing but, if she were being honest, Piper couldn't really tell. Her mind was so confused, her thoughts were disconnected. She had been feeling like this ever since they got back from their quest, growing more panicky and agitated each day. Annabeth had mentioned that too.

"Found it in cabin 10." She responded silently, taking a look at it for the first time. It was a plastic dolphin and it was one of it's googly eyes. Jason opened his mouth, probably to tell her to give it back or scold her.

Although she was still unable to look in his eyes, she cut him before he started his pep talk:

"Jason... I'm not- I'm not okay. It's just- why are you even dating me?" She couldn't help the words, harsh and sad words that had been on her mind ever since they got back. Words that had been haunting her every day.

He was clearly taken back by her question and yet, still managed to bury away all emotion. That got her even more upset:

"None of this is even real! The first time we met was at that dumb school bus." Piper got up from her seat, taking a few steps forward, trying to clear her mind. She backed up a bit, feeling her throat tight. "It's not real, it's Hera's doings. It's all fake. It's all-" She interrupted herself with a sob. She wasn't getting anywhere like this.

"Do you... want to break up? I mean… " Jason was behaving completely opposite from her. When she was happy, he was distant; when she was fidgeting with her ADHD acting up, he would be still and silent as a rock. But Piper knew deep down that he was surely as lost and upset as she felt. That softened her up a bit.

"I-I don't know. I-I'm not sure what's happening. I don't know what to do." She hid her face with her left hand. He reached for her right one and tried to hold her still for a little.

"Hey, listen to me, we can...stay apart… You're right and I've been thinking about it too…" She looked up at him, eyes full of tears, his hand hadn't moved an inch. "But Leo still needs our support, Pipes. We won't hide it from him, he'll catch onto that, I mean that we can't leave him." Seeing her reaction with the mentioning of Leo, Jason got up and hugged her shoulders. He was so much taller than her. She closed her eyes.

Then it all vanished.

She was now passing by a fancy jewelry store, the one down their condo. Tristan McLean had flown to Hawaii for a movie, it was supposed to be one of the big ones. When Piper woke up, she only found a thick envelope in the living room attached to a post-it note.

' _Mr. McLean had to leave earlier than previously scheduled. He told you to buy a nice present for yourself, the cook is also baking a cake. It should be ready by noon. He also mentioned you could invite a friend or two to come over if you want._

 _We will be back in three weeks._

 _Happy birthday.'_

Sadly, Piper remembered that day very well. She remembered how she wanted to rip the card and, at the same time, laugh at the card's content. "Had to leave earlier than previously expected" Oh, no shit! And even worse: "Invite a friend or two". That had been just politeness and they all knew it. Actually, everyone already knew about Piper. Troublemaker. Thief. The problematic teen that couldn't manage to stay in any schools. At least never long enough to make friends.

And alone all the fucking time.

She peeked at the inside of the envelope and found some dollar bills. What was she even expecting at this point?

No friends, no family, only that flawless and stupid cake. At times like these she really missed Grandpa Tom, he would sit down and tell her a story. At the very least he would have the consideration to actually _be_ _there_ with her.

Piper hadn't even stopped to think, what did she have to lose anyway? It was the only thinkable way for her father to call today.

She headed to a nursery home on the opposite side of the city. The place was awfully uncared for, Piper couldn't handle to visit the patients. She didn't want to get even more upset.

She marched to the only secretary and pushed the envelope, not giving him a chance to talk. "Hi. I live in this neighborhood and I've been saving some money. Please accept it as a donation for the most damaged parts of the building." She said distantly. Lies, lies and more lies.

The secretary was in awe as he opened the envelope. He looked up to see her run away, before any questionaments could be made.

Her second stop was a tattoo shop close by. The studio was tiny but it was the type of place that no one would ask what a 14 year old was doing there by herself. She chose a golden piercing right on her nose, visible for anyone to see.

Piper was finally back at their mansion's street, back to the jewelry store. She walked past those diamonds and rubies all the time. There was also no doubt that if she asked nicely her father could even buy some of those for her. Being a successful Hollywood actor and all.

She didn't care at this point though.

The security guards were onto her, just like the workers in serious white suits, watching each and every of her movements. They all knew in that neighborhood: it was Tristan McLean's rebelling teenager, that poor father.

They unconsciously let her in, magically ignoring her appearance and the gossip for a few minutes.

Now, years later, Piper knew that it had all been related to her mother's power, Aphrodite. She was barely able to control her powers back then, honestly she wasn't even aware of them for a long time. But in the dark moments, when she was in a strong emotional state, they infiltrated the minds around her. Piper had always been powerful.

She randomly picked a necklace and a pair of earrings. The workers magically didn't see her taking them and the security guards pretended to forget everything once she was out, conveniently always looking the other way.

From experience, Piper knew she would have about an hour until they realized what had happened and sent the police to retrieve the items. And she probably had about 3 hours until her father would finally call, shouting at her for stealing.

Again.

Piper entered the mansion. The tile floor was cold and the door made a horrible sound as it was opened. Her senses were tangled and oversensitive. As she climbed the marble staircase, Piper threw everything on the ground and ran up to her bedroom.

"You don't need these, Piper! You KNOW that you don't! My life is not easy like you think it is! I don't need you to make things worse! Just tell me what's wrong!" He would tell her, not the first and not for the last time.

She missed Grandpa Tom and his stories so much. She needed to know more about the Cherokee, she had to remember the songs. If only he had taught her dad and herself the written language.

She cried for a long time, until she started to feel numb again and managed to sleep until the inevitable.

 **/**


	2. Chapter Two

_Chapter Two_

"Piper, hey. It's your turn now. Are you okay?" She slowly opened her eyes to see blonde curls in all directions. Annabeth proceeded to pull back a little, waiting for her to properly wake up.

"What time is it" Her voice was raspy and her mouth had a bad taste.

"A little past four. What're you dreaming about?" Annabeth's look became concerned. They had become great friends and she learned that Annabeth was very sympathetic with younger demigods. She looked exhausted though.

"Just some bad memories." Piper sat down on her bed, ending the conversation. She looked around their shared room, searching for a sweatshirt. "This is mine, right?" She lazily pointed to a pink one on the floor.

"It's actually Katie Gardner's, but you can use it now I guess." They both shared a chuckle at that. It was soft and warm when she put it on.

"See you at breakfast." Annabeth said with a low yawn, already taking her shirt off and getting ready to sleep. Piper took a calming breath and climbed the steps to see Percy upstairs.

It was unusually warm on the deck. Because of the constant higher altitudes that they traveled on, Piper was used to chilly nights. Now that Percy had joined them, the Argo II could finally sail in the ocean like a proper boat. They had decided to only return to the skies during Jason's turn to watch, just in case there were any monster attacks.

Now, Percy Jackson. She had heard so much about him, about his quests and the monsters he slaughtered. From what she knew, Annabeth and Percy had been friends since his first year in Camp and, together, they defeated legends like Medusa, Polyphemus and later, even Kronos himself. The stories came mostly from the kids at camp, Annabeth had been too hesitant to talk about him during the time he was missing. Everyone could see how clearly happy they were to be finally back together.

Once Piper reached the top floor of the ship, she recognized Percy's form in the dark. He sat on the wooden floor, sword in hand, looking out at the horizon and the stars.

She plopped down next to him crossing her legs, he greeted her with a simple "hey". Piper managed to yawn in response, he chuckled lightly.

"Sorry. I didn't sleep much."

Percy looked very tired as well. If all the stories about him were true, Piper couldn't even imagine how he managed to sleep at all.

They stayed in silence for a little while; although Piper was extremely interested in asking questions and curious for his answers, she also felt a little intimidated by the situation. Percy was much older and stronger than her.

She had just decided to stay quiet and mind her own business when he started some small talk:

"Do you know any of the constellations?" He said, still only looking forward.

"Only the ones I remember from when I was a kid. My… " She also wasn't sure how much he was interested in learning about her life. "My grandpa used to tell me about them."

"Oh cool. I learned most of them from Annabeth." He lifted his arm and pointed to a set of eight or nine stars. "That one's special though. It's the huntress."

Piper's face was scrunched as she tried to understand what she was looking for. "I never heard of it before."

As he spoke, Percy didn't take his eyes off of it. "You could say it's a new one. Look for a girl kneeling down with a bow. Right there." He leaned closer to her and pointed again to the set of stars

Piper saw it and told him so; at least she hoped she was looking at the correct thing. She had no idea what he meant with "new one" but maybe it was just teasing from his part.

The moon was now becoming visible, the fog was dispersing and the clouds that had been hiding it were now moving south. The ship was showered with a slight silver glow. Piper could finally take a better look at Percy: his sword was beautifully illuminated, the greek lettering engraved in it were shining in bronze. His build was strong, of course, but different from Jason or Frank; his figure was slim and more subtle. He also seemed a lot more comfortable in his body, just the way he looked at things or how he held his sword were simple proof of his calm and chilled personality.

She then noticed his Camp necklace for the first time. "So, how old were you when you got to Camp?" Piper asked pointing to his neck. He looked down to the necklace before answering in a small nostalgic tone:

"Oh. I had just turned twelve… Grover was my friend at middle school and later he took me there. Did you get to meet him in Camp?" Percy noticed her silence and explained a little further. "Humm he's a satyr. Around thirty years old. Curly hair?"

"Sorry, no." she shook her head slightly. "Are you still good friends?"

"Of course. And to be honest, he was my first real friend" Percy gave a short laugh and turned to look at her, he was fidgeting with his jacket's pocket. His ADHD seemed to be as strong as Leo's. "Hum, well… Sorry, but I don't remember seeing you in Cabin 10 before. Were you somewhere else?"

"Actually, Leo and I only got to Camp earlier this year. We arrived with Jason." Piper explained. "Chiron thinks Hera kept us hidden until kidnapping Jason." Percy seemed a little frustrated with her answer. "Is that okay?" worry was still strong in her voice

"Don't worry, it's not you… Just, can't trust the gods, you know? I bet they don't even remember…" Piper had no idea what he was talking about but nodded anyway. She knew how hard it was to deal with the guys upstairs, their last summer had easily proved that, but never in a million years she would have the courage to say something like that. And Percy just did it so casually too. "And usually it's just a lot safer for the kids when they get younger to Camp. Nowadays at least, when Annabeth did, she had a really rough time."

She remembered the nursery and primary school they had back there. Even though Piper had never visited them, she knew there were some really young kids living in Camp. The way he was talking though, Piper wondered if Percy had anything to do with their existence.

"So… what do you mean with that stuff about Annabeth?"

"She was seven when she arrived, Chiron practically raised her." Piper was speechless. She already couldn't imagine starting this life of fighting at twelve, but seven years old?! Wow. Percy noticed her shock and giggled a little before asking:

"You two look like good friends, how did you meet?"

"She was the one that found us and took us to Camp. Later I asked her to teach me how to use this." Piper unleashed Katoptris and showed it to him. "I'm not very good but I'm still learning."

"That's great. I always told Annabeth she should be teaching others." He seemed honestly impressed. It made Piper smile as she put the dagger away.

"She's amazing isn't she?" Percy went back to looking vaguely at the constellations, he leaned to the left and bent his right leg in a more comfortable position. Piper had to admit the way he talked about his girlfriend was very sweet.

"You must have really missed her these eight months."

"Annabeth was the only memory I had in Camp Jupiter. She had it so much worse though… I'm never leaving her again."

Piper tried to apply his situation to Jason's. Percy seemed to have all of his memory back now, did that meant Jason had been lying about not remembering his old life?

No, it wasn't like him to lie about something that important. Or was it? It had been proved again and again to her face that Piper didn't truly know him. The only people that did were in Camp Jupiter, like that praetor girl.

"And… you used to live with your family?" Percy's voice brought her back to the conversation.

"Uhh, sort of. I have my father but I was sent to a boarding school for about a year. Leo used to say that it was just a pretty name for a reformatory." Piper had absolutely despised her time at Wilderness School. Aside from making friends with Leo, nothing good had come from that place. Nowadays it was just a painful reminder of her unsolved relationship with her dad.

She sighed and looked up, trying to get rid of any intrusive thoughts.

Quickly sensing her discomfort, Percy answered his own question. "I have my mom. I miss her more than anything." And although he had a smile on his face, Percy's voice was clearly sad.

"Sally, right?" Percy looked at her, incredulous, and Piper couldn't stop her laughter. "No, I'm not a psychic or something. I just remember Annabeth visiting her a lot when we were building the ship. I figured it was someone related to you."

"She visited my mom?" His eyebrows tensed down, his eyes were glossy glowing with the moon's reflection. "Did she say anything about Estelle?"

"Sorry I don't really remember. I didn't want to make you upset."

"No, no." He shook his head in understanding. "It's just that I'm trying to avoid talking to Annabeth about, you know, the months I was away. I figured it won't do good for either of us, we'll both feel bad in one way or another… Estelle is my sister, just turned six. And no, thankfully not a demigod." The sad smile was back.

The night continued like that between the two. Sharing the details and small facts. By the time the sky turned into a ghostly blue, they had become friends as Piper noticed she didn't feel hesitant to talk to Percy anymore. She was still very impressed by him there just existing, but that had happened the first time she talked with Annabeth as well.

The fog was dense around the ship. They couldn't distinctively see the sun rising, but the natural light it had brought was more and more noticeable. It would soon be time for breakfast.

 **/**


	3. Chapter Three

_Chapter Three_

Hazel had really struggled on their first night at the Argo II. Arion had followed the ship until they reached the eastern coast; Frank suggested to take him to rest on the stables, knowing her love for horses in general. But she knew they wouldn't be able to keep him there for long, Arion was a free spirit.

Last time, he had simply appeared when she needed, therefore Hazel was hoping once they reached Europe, Arion would be there too when she needed.

Something good she discovered aboard (one of the only things sadly) was that, as there was no earth under their feet, there were no jewels either. Now Hazel didn't have to worry about her anxiety or nervousness, thankfully there were no cursed gold or jewels to pop out of the earth.

Percy had put her on one of the only two rooms that had a single bed. Piper and Annabeth offered to rearrange their room to fit her but Hazel politely declined; a single glance at their incredibly messy floor had been enough for Hazel to prefer her own room. Despite the fact that she also needed some privacy to train her magic conjuring anyway.

The second night had been a lot better, considering the nightmares had been bearable and she managed to get some actual sleep. It was 8 in the morning when Hazel got dressed and headed to the main hall, she could hear the boys' conversation from the corridor. According to Frank, him and Jason used to be good friends before Juno kidnapped him, it was no surprise they had been spending a lot of time together.

Leo, the scrawny son of Vulcan, was there too. He was about half the size of the other two and had in his hands metal pieces that seemed to change shape every two minutes.

"Good morning, Hazel" Frank smiled at her and waved, sweet as always. During their quest, him and Percy had developed a strong sense of protection and care towards her. But they definitely respected her as a fighter, they had seen by first hand what her powers of capable of.

"You want some cereal?" Jason pointed with his thumb to the colorful box on the edge of the table.

"Thanks." She sat in front of Leo and tried shooting him a friendly smile, he didn't look at her face though. Hazel reached for the milk box and served half a portion for herself.

Even though she had spent a full year in Camp Jupiter, Hazel couldn't say she was used to the contemporary age. Sadly, her mind still worked in the 1880s setting. Her flashbacks were definitely getting better now but she couldn't help but compare things to her old life; Hazel was, after all, still only a child.

Nico had been such a huge help, she missed her older brother so much. Nico had also come from another time, from 1942 to be more specific, so they became outsiders together. It turned out to be easier than she expected at least. They were children of Pluto, most people had prejudice and already expected them to act weird in some way or another. At least that's how it had been in Camp.

There were things Hazel loved in this time; things like women's jeans (or actually, women wearing pants at all), T-shirts and some funny types of food and weird looking candy. Hopefully her daily life here wouldn't turn out to be much different from what she was used to in New Rome.

Frank and Percy knew the truth of course and probably, with due time, the others would deserve to know her history too. For the time being, though, Hazel was going to mimic the other's behaviour and just ask Frank questions when she needed.

After some spoonfuls of cereal, Hazel's curiosity was getting to her. She pointed to the object in Leo's hands and asked kindly:

"So… what is that you're doing?" The boy looked up to her and then back down to the metal. Jason quietly turned his head to observe his reaction, for some reason.

"Uh it's a… just some screws and gears." Leo went back to being silent again.

"Fidgeting, like Percy does." Leo immediately nodded at Jason's response, still looking down. "He likes putting them together to form something and then start over again." Hazel knew most demigods had difficulties with paying attention or simply staying still. Percy and Nico had high levels of ADHD, it seemed Leo did too. Apparently Hazel only had what they called 'dyslexia'.

She ate some more and soon noticed Leo had a one-sided smirk forming on his face as he continued to 'fidget'. A few moments later he lifted his hand in her direction, handing her the metal piece and excitedly waiting for a response.

It looked beautiful in a rough and unfinished way Hazel never realized could be called beautiful. The tiny metal pieces perfectly formed a cylindrical body, a short tail and a pair of retracted wings, all three linked by a single bronze screw. Looking at it again Hazel recognized it as a dragon figure, it stood proud and elegant on the boy's palm.

"How… ?" Her voice silenced itself. She turned to look at Frank on her left, seeing he had the same reaction of awe and marvel as her. They were both shocked at the boy's skill.

Leo quickly moved it in his hands, getting it close to his body again and back to playing with the dragon pieces. Hazel watched as he removed piece by piece and started rebuilding something entirely different with incredible speed.

"I never seen anyone do anything like this." Frank said, his face mirroring her exact thoughts. Jason was smiling, probably proud of his friend's abilities.

Footsteps from the door took them out of their amazement, Hazel glanced to the open hallway and saw Percy and the pretty girl, Piper, coming in. They looked tired as they greeted the others in the room, probably from standing guard in the deck for hours.

Piper walked in Leo's direction with a mischievous grin and playfully pushed him over to Jason's side with her elbow:

"Don't mind if I sit here, do you?" This seemed to be a very common joke between them as Leo put his tongue out and normally continued to play with the screws. Piper pulled her pink sleeves up and reached to the closest cereal box. Hazel saw all of the colorful armbands she had tied on her wrist and even on her forearm. Hazel had been very surprised the first time she saw Piper, the girl constantly wore two braids in her long hair and even had a weird type of earring on her nose. In Camp, there were very strict rules about accessories and hair styles. Piper seemed to be just… so authentic in her own way.

Percy was making himself some toast when Annabeth silently walked in. She was the only one still in pajamas, her blonde curly hair was loosely tied in a high bun. Percy turned his head as he heard the footsteps and started to chuckle loudly once he saw his girlfriend's exhausted face.

"Morning, sunshine." Jason announced with a grin after Annabeth had just walked past the table they were sitting at. They all laughed a little at their playfulness.

"Anyone made coffee?" She bluntly sat next to Piper and began to fix her voluminous hair in a ponytail instead. She pushed the curls over her shoulder and tried to get rid of some knots using her fingers. Hazel got a good glance at the scars and burns covering her back and shoulders, they greatly resembled Percy's own.

He then proceeded to place a large mug in front of her along with a plate of toast, Percy left a sweet kiss at the top of Annabeth's head before sitting down next to Hazel to start eating. She started to wonder a little more about the couple: back in her time, two young adults like them would be preparing for marriage by now. She asked herself if the two would be getting married if they weren't demigods.

"Now that everyone's here, Jason and I were talking about some ideas we had for training." Frank's voice was sounding surprisingly clear and confident. He had really changed after their quest to Alaska, like he was starting to believe he had a role as a leader.

Jason continued for him:

"Since everyone here has different fighting styles and complete different sets of powers, we thought of having three types of practice: one day with those that use similar fighting techniques, one to duel each other (one to one or in pairs) and a private training session with Annabeth.

They all looked in her direction. She stopped mid bite on her toast:

"Wait what" the sound was muffled by the bread in her mouth. Percy had stopped eating as well, the smile on his face grew exponentially as he stared at his girlfriend. Jason continued talking:

"Yeah, c'mon Annabeth! You're great at that, you helped Piper so much and we see you helping campers from time to time."

"True that." Piper lifted her spoon up and said with mouth full of the colorful cereal. Annabeth was still hesitant as she lowered the half eaten toast to the plate.

"I don't know, what exactly you want me to do?"

"To help us. But instead of teaching fighting techniques you would help us control our powers."

Frank quickly nodded at what Jason said and continued for him with a shy tone:

"Yeah, I mean, I just learned what I can do and some help controlling it would be pretty great."

Annabeth's expression softened at that comment, they had been getting along quite nicely and to hear that coming from such a strong guy like Frank must have changed Annabeth's thoughts a little.

"Considering it'll take us about a month to reach the Mediterranean Sea," it was Percy's turn to speak "we can use this time to help each other with our abilities. We have really different backgrounds." He side eyed Hazel expectantly, encouraging her to put herself on the conversation.

She blinked a few times and started: "Hecate gave me a… challenge a few weeks ago. To follow my mother's steps and learn how to manipulate the mist."

"Like magic?" Piper said in a much more serious and also curious tone, Hazel nodded slightly and continued:

"And I'm pretty lost if I'm being honest. Percy talked a lot about you Annabeth, you know, that you're really clever." For a moment Hazel worried if her accent was sounding too strong, her cheeks warmed up a little with the thought. "So far I only got the basics and I don't really got help besides some messages lady Hecate sent me." Hazel decided against telling the others about her nightmares and hallucinations she was having about her mother.

"What you think then?" Percy returned to look at Annabeth. She sighed and scratched her head, messing up her hair a little bit.

"I mean, if you guys really want to I can try I guess." She leaned back on her chair and went back to her toast, sipping the coffee mug as well. Frank nodded enthusiastically and moved forward with the meeting:

"For the 'similar fighting techniques' practice, we thought of three groups: Jason and I do more long distance fighting, I have my bow and he uses a spear, so for us we'd use targets and stuff. Now, Percy and Hazel, you both use swords, you can spar and train in close combat."

Percy seemed excited with the idea, they had pretty different styles once that Hazel's sword was for cavalry and she had the roman background. He laid his hand on the little girl's shoulder and squeezed a little.

Piper finished for the boys: "And me and Annabeth use daggers so she can keep on training me." They both nodded.

Hazel quickly noticed that Leo had been left out of the discussion. But come to think of it, Hazel hadn't seen him carrying a weapon at all. He usually just stayed at the control room or doing repairs around the ship.

Either way, this afternoon was bound to get very interesting for the Argo II crew.

/

Percy was the only one that wasn't going to get help from Annabeth. Because of, well, some obvious reasons. The six of them stayed at the table after they finished having lunch. Percy was assigned to do the dishes, much to his frustration, but it was also an excuse for him to stay and be part of the conversation.

Annabeth started by asking them to talk about their abilities and what they thought she could help with. Jason went first, being the one that had had the idea:

"I manage flight and wind manipulation really well, I guess. But when I invoke thunder and lightning, in special, I get hurt and exhausted very quickly. Also, I'm noticing some scars on my back when I do that, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad sign." Annabeth's grey eyes scanned him, lost in thought. She nodded quickly and turned to look at Piper, sitting beside him.

"My charmspeak is not perfect, I don't feel I control it very well. It sorts of acts up when I'm nervous or just at random times."

"Your charm- what?" Frank said, but instantly seemed to regret it. "Sorry, I mean, I never heard of that before." Piper chuckled and answered kindly.

"Because of my mom," Hazel found it funny how she called the goddess Venus simply by 'mom', she never imagined of calling Pluto anything like that. "I can use words to convince people or change their minds, for a short period of time. I used it unconsciously when I was younger, but it can be really helpful with monsters."

"That's a type of magic." Annabeth mentioned quickly. Hazel took it as a cue for herself:

"I never seen it in action but I believe it might work similarly. Do you use the mist to convince people at all?"

"I actually didn't think about that before, I just say things or ask for them and sometimes it works." Piper shrugged. "How is it for you?"

"I, uh… for example, I made a griffin believe he had no wings so he just fell to the ground when we were still in Kansas. And in my room I've been trying to summon small objects like pencils and cups." Percy eyed her discreetly, probably wondering if she was going to talk about the curse. "And I have some sort of control over rare metals like gold." Close enough.

"Woow. That's really cool, Hazel." Piper pointed out, Leo agreed nodding but still looking down. So he payed attention to what was going on after all. "But what do you mean 'some sort of control'?"

"I can feel our weapons vibrate, like their energy pulsating. Sometimes I can make it pulsate more if I focus." Hesitating, she decided against mentioning how she could summon it as well, it would spook her new found friends. Percy went back to drying the utensils, but added to the conversation anyway:

"Your eyes start glowing a little too, remember that time with the Giant?"

Frank nodded and returned the attention to Piper: "Oh yeah… Do yours do that too?" Piper seemed taken back by the question, she opened her mouth to answer but remained silent. Leo unexpectedly looked up from the metal pieces he was fidgeting with and responded in her place:

"They don't glow but they start shining in different colors like pink and green. Sometimes." None of them seemed to have noticed that before, including Piper herself who was honestly more than a little surprised.

"Interesting" was Annabeth's only comment, probably because she already had been helping Piper with her abilities from the very start. Piper turned her head to the right and directed to her friend, trying to get the focus out of herself:

"How about you, Leo? You still trying to control fire properly, right?" For a moment, Leo seemed to have forgotten what he was doing there, he looked around his friends and only some seconds later nodded.

"Yeah… it sort of… does whatever it wants." To prove his point he light up his hand, literally, with fire. The yellow flames danced around his fingers, illuminating his skin from the inside, his blood and his veins showing through, thin streaks of smoke started flowing upwards. It looked like the boy's own energy was being used as fuel.

Both Hazel and Frank had countless questions cooking in their minds, but Leo's expressions was clearly telling them he wasn't up for more talking. He went back to doing his own thing, from time to time nudging Piper with his elbow as a sort of habit.

"I guess I'm the only one left." Frank began in a mock tone. "You all must have seen in New Rome, I can change forms but I only got some animals so far. Oh, and only mammals."

"Yes, Percy mentioned that to me. How do you choose the animal you turn into though?"

Frank looked directly to Annabeth to answer:

"Well, the first time, I thought hard on how it would feel to walk and move like one. How my organs would shape and how I would communicate, then it sort of… worked? It's a gift passed down from my family. My grandma did it with very little effort."

"You probably need more training then. How long did it take you last time?" They all had the image of a giant grey bear fighting and roaring in their minds from their first fight together.

"Hum, about fifteen minutes I think?" He looked over to Hazel for confirmation, she frowned in thought for a while before answering:

"The elephant you can get in about five minutes." Annabeth seemed to be interested with that:

"Oh, so maybe some are growing more familiar to you? Or it just got easier with time. Either way we can definitely start practice with that."

Both her and Percy had bright smiles on their faces. By now he had already finished cleaning the dishes and was leaning on the balcony with his back to watch them. "Ok, perfect, I guess that's all we need to start. Sounds doable. Every other day I can schedule with one of you to work on that. Who wants to go first then?"

 **/**


	4. Chapter Four

_Chapter Four_

The Argo II soared smoothly through the foggy sky. Jason and Frank had just been woken up by Annabeth to take over the next watch, Piper was still at the deck when she saw the two big guys up on the stairs. They threw around some 'goodnights' and she made her way down to the lowest floor, where their bedrooms were located; sleep was quickly catching up, starting to cloud her thoughts.

Piper skipped over the last step as she noticed Leo by himself, standing in the middle of the hallway. She walked over to her own bedroom door that had been left half open, probably by Annabeth before she crashed. Piper laid her hand on the knob, when her brain finally registered the situation. She turned her head around to look at her friend:

"You should be sleeping, is everything okay?"

Leo wasn't fidgeting, he was standing as still as Piper had ever seen him, staring at the door opposite to her's. A few seconds of waiting passed until he answered:

"I think Hazel is having a bad night… I heard her crying." He pointed to his own room which he shared with Jason, at the other end of the corridor. His other hand seemed to have grown impatient, he was closing and opening it up again, pushing in and out of his pocket in a vicious cycle. Piper knew flames would start appearing very soon if he kept at it for too long.

"You want me to talk to her, don't you?" He nodded a few times. Piper sighed. "I don't know, Leo… We just met, I don't want to make things worse for her."

His amber eyes suddenly turned to face her. Big and pleading, in such a special manner that always managed to convince Piper.

"You can sing for her. She'll like it." Was his only and simple answer. Piper knew what this was about. Ever since they met, Piper would sing to him whenever he had a breakdown or even just felt like doing it. Sometimes all he needed was one song, other times a full playlist, but it _never_ failed to calm him down. And Leo had taken a liking to Hazel, he had a very visible way of showing who he enjoyed the company of.

The boy seemed to notice Piper change of thought and left the hallway, quietly walking to his room. Piper leaned over Hazel's bedroom door, her ears immediately recognized the too familiar sniffling sound.

She gently knocked twice, but not really expecting a response. Leo had taught her how to be patient in delicate situations like these. She knocked again, this time saying:

"Hey, it's Piper. We heard you… crying."

No response aside from the cries that were becoming harder, the situation (whatever it was) was getting worse. Piper suddenly heard shuffling and a loud thud, like something had fallen to the floor.

"Hazel, are you hurt? Is it okay if I come in? I want to help you."

Again, nothing.

Right then, new plan. She was going to open the door a tiny bit, just to make sure Hazel was safe. Then she would call Frank, ask him what they could do as he seemed to be the one closest to her.

The wooden door creaked slightly and a narrow patch of light shone in the room, greatly contrasting to the total darkness inside.

Piper scanned the room and immediately recognized Hazel's tiny form. She was sat on the floor, legs and lower body still tangled on the blue bed sheets. Any plan Piper had made on the last 30 seconds flew out the window at that same exact second:

"Oh, sweetheart." Piper tried to be as gentle and silent as possible as she walked in, but the image really broke her heart: the little girl had her knees up to her chest, one hand was violently tugging at her dark hair and the other was still holding the side of the mattress, knuckles closed tight around it. Hazel's breathing was sharp, taking air in only in the milliseconds between the hard and painful sobs that her chest was letting out.

Having no idea of what had triggered the panic attack, Piper crouched down as slowly as she could, getting on the same level as the girl. She reached her hand in Hazel's direction, but still not going as far touching.

"It's okay, Hazel. I'm here with you now, you're not alone." Piper got an inch closer to her after seeing her whimpering, curling in herself; hand digging tighter on her hair.

"Focus on my voice, can you hear what I'm saying?"

Hazel kept her eyes firmly closed, forehead scrunched, but she seemed to be more aware of her surroundings now. She nodded her head once. Good sign.

"Yes, there we go, sweetie. Is it okay if I touch you?" no clear answer came "I'm going to put my hand on your knee now and get a little closer. Is that okay? You're safe, this is going to pass, I promise."

Hazel didn't flinch when Piper brushed her knee. The hand tugging at her curls lessened in intensity, breaths still coming short. Piper patted her knee affectionately, giving her an encouraging smile, even though the girl was still not opening her eyes.

"See? I'm here with you, it's going to pass, it's okay. Do me another favor now, Hazel, can you open your eyes for me?"

She lightly squeezed the girl's dark skin, adding:

"Just do that for me, open your eyes, look at me. I promise-" Piper stopped herself. She used to tell Leo everything would be okay, but being a demigod she sadly could not make such promises anymore.

Hazel began to take deeper breathings, she blinked a few times until her eyes finally managed to focus on Piper's face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, face lost in a frown.

Smiling warmly at her, Piper tried to transfer at least a tiny bit of hope to Hazel through her expression. She watched as the girl sniffed one last time and swallowed, trying to get her breathing under control. A second later Piper felt her trembling arms tightening around her waist. She didn't hesitate to hug her back, a knot started to form in Piper's own throat as she began to wonder what horrible thing must have gotten Hazel this scared and desperate.

She adjusted her legs so that Hazel could fit better in her lap, settling in a cross-legged position. She sobbed a little more, tightly squeezing the back of Piper's pink sweatshirt. She held Hazel's side with one hand while the other started to mindlessly brush her hair.

Poor girl.

Thinking back to Leo and what he had said, Piper gathered the courage to sing. It came naturally to her, as usual. Picking a nice song she had heard in Camp Half-Blood, she hummed in a low tone, not wanting to disrupt the trust she had gotten from Hazel:

" _Open up your ears and hearts_

 _You put a big bird in a small cage and he'll sing you a song,_

 _That we all love to sing along_

 _To the sound of the bird that mourns…_

 _Well we rolled into town into sweet New Orleans,_

 _To the Apple Bell Bar there's a hole in the wall_

 _The ceilings weren't tall, the floors were the ground_

 _But the sound they made just warmed your heart._

 _Well it's a quarter to twelve when the boys walked in,_

 _They got their black suits on and the songs would begin._

 _You open up your ears and hearts_

 _You put a big bird in a small cage and he'll sing you a song_

 _That we love to sing along."_

She repeated these lines a few times as she couldn't remember how the song continued and, at the same time, not really focusing on the lyrics or even her tone. Her voice was also a little muffled from her sleepy state.

It appeared to have helped Hazel, exactly the way Leo said it would. Piper's mind immediately went to the little kids back at Camp. There were many 4 and 5 year olds in cabin 10 and many times they had asked Piper to sing them lullabies. Piper did, every single time. With time she noticed the singing was also helping herself, she entered a comfortable and safe place in her mind that turned to be a good help with her own nightmares.

Hazel finally lifted her head up from where it had been resting on Piper's stomach. Piper looked down at her again and wondered wethered Camp Jupiter had small kids too.

The girl opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Piper imagined she was feeling the common guilt and embarrassment people often went through after a panic attack. Trying to spare her of that, Piper decided to be the first one to talk:

"Liked the song? Don't really remember the name of the band but the tune is sweet." Hazel shyly nodded in agreement. Piper continued. "What do you think of heading to the main hall with me? I can make something for you to eat, if you want." Another nod.

Piper stood up steadily and reached to help Hazel up, who still hadn't detangled her limbs from the sheets that were now completely scattered on the floor. They stepped through the corridor, both blinking at the luminosity.

Trying to give her as much comfort as possible (now being certain the girl was okay with physical touches) Piper put her arm across Hazel's back, her left hand held her shoulder with a touch of pressure. Hopefully it would transmit more safety.

She flickered the lights on with her free hand once they reached the hall. Piper guided Hazel to sit on one of the colorful chairs as she headed for the fridge and cupboards.

A few minutes later she came back with a large glass, the milk box and two packages of oreos. Hazel had been completely motionless up to that point. Then she eyed Piper curiously, taking one of the blue plastic wrap in her hands.

"You don't like oreos?" Piper's voice was gentle, laced with care.

"Never had 'em before." Her voice was weak and unsure. Piper comically shot her eyebrows up.

"Then we gotta fix that, don't you think?" She opened the milk box and poured a large serving. She moved it towards Hazel, unpacking a few of the biscuits. The girl watched her, not knowing what to do. Piper noticed her hesitation, she took a cookie and dipped it in the milk:

"Like this" she handed it to Hazel who took it with faltering hands. Her cheeks lifted up a tiny bit, probably from the sugar. She chewed a few times before saying:

"Your voice is really pretty…"

Piper only smiled in return, dipping an oreo for herself and popping it into her mouth.

 **/**


End file.
